Celtics

Porzingis will have surgery “in the coming days” to repair the torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon he sustained in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

One of the pillars of the Celtics‘ recent championship team will not be able to play a similarly central role in his country’s potential pursuit of a gold medal in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.

Kristaps Porzingis, still fresh off the Celtics’ NBA Finals win (and subsequently jubilant victory parade), is set to have surgery to address the torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon he sustained in Game 2 of the series against the Mavericks. The team announced the upcoming procedure on Tuesday morning.

“This injury always requires surgical repair,” the Celtics said in a statement. “Porzingis had hoped to delay surgery until after both the NBA Finals and Latvia’s Olympic campaign, but the injury doesn’t allow for consistent play at the level required for Olympic competition.

“Surgery will be performed in the coming days, and further updates will be provided when available.”

At a Tuesday press conference, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens offered more along the same lines about Porzingis.

“Kristaps is still in the middle of consulting with different doctors and specialists,” said Stevens. “We anticipate surgery will be soon and we’ll have more of an update for the timeline of recovery after the surgery.”

Porzingis, 28, is a central figure for his national team in Latvia. His loss will be immense for the Baltic nation’s efforts to make it to the Paris Games in the upcoming FIBA qualifying tournaments (one of which will be held in Riga, Latvia).

Acquired by the Celtics in the previous offseason, Porzingis became instrumental in Boston’s dominant 2023-24 regular season. The Celtics finished the year with an NBA-best 64-18 record, and matched an NBA record for wins with a margin of victory of at least 25 points. He was able to feature for most of the season without encountering serious injury until Boston’s first-round matchup with the Heat.

And after spending over a month in the playoffs recovering from a calf strain, he was injured again in Game 2 of the finals against Dallas. Still, Porzingis was able to make important contributions in the finals, scoring 20 points in 21 minutes in Game 1 to help inspire a Boston win.